


they shoot horses, don't they?

by Naraht



Category: Cycling RPF
Genre: Angst, Gen, Humour
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-06
Updated: 2019-07-06
Packaged: 2020-06-23 15:34:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 265
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19704313
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Naraht/pseuds/Naraht
Summary: ITV4's Tour de France coverage is interspersed with incessant adverts for the Donkey Sanctuary – and other, equally tear-jerking charitable causes. But why will no one think of the riders?





	they shoot horses, don't they?

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Nineveh_uk](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nineveh_uk/gifts).



For years, or even decades, they're worked to exhaustion for the entertainment of others. Often they're drugged to make them perform, starved to the edge of emaciation. They fight their way across cruel cobbles and up gradients of over 20%, across desolate deserts and snow-choked mountain passes, through blistering sun and howling crosswinds.

Even a crash offers them no respite. Dazed and battered, blood streaming down their faces, too often they're simply put back on their bikes and forced onwards.

And what thanks do they get when it's all over? To be abandoned by the side of the road, fit only for the broom wagon.

Chris was left shattered after a high-speed crash that could have killed him. Tommy spent day after day out on the road alone, a motorbike cameraman the only witness to his solitary agony. Alberto suffered years of emotional abuse at the hands of a cruel sponsor. Mikel has spent his career chained to another rider, never able to stretch his legs. 

After seventeen years in the pro peleton, Alejandro is elderly now. Unable to spend his declining years in peace, he's still flogging himself on the road.

With your support, we can help these brave riders to live out the rest of their days in the comfort and love they deserve, at our sanctuaries in Andorra, Girona and Monaco. Adopting a rider costs only £3 a month – and you'll receive our welcome pack along with a glossy photo of your chosen rider. 

They've done so much for us. Can't you show them a little love? Click here to donate today.

**Author's Note:**

> As well as his breakaway skills, Tommy Voeckler was known for his unerring ability to end up right in front of a cameraman. And his wide range of [pain faces](https://velovoices.com/2013/06/22/the-many-faces-of-thomas-voeckler/).
> 
> Alberto Contador got a [huge amount](https://www.marca.com/en/more-sports/2016/10/04/57f41cac22601d63598b45d8.html) of [grief](https://road.cc/content/news/219558-oleg-tinkov-calls-alberto-contador-piece-spanish-shit-extraordinary-outburst) from the owner of Tinkoff-Saxo when he was with the team.
> 
> Mikel Landa always seems to end up riding for a teammate, never for himself. Hence the #FreeLanda movement. And [that rap song](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJrbqLvrisk).
> 
> Alejandro Valverde is thirty-nine now. He says he's going to ride for another two years. I tried to work in some reference to [blood transfusions](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operaci%C3%B3n_Puerto_doping_case) but I couldn't make it fit.
> 
> And Chris Froome... well, you know about Chris Froome.


End file.
